Studies help explain the reduction in mortality with COVID-19

Fewer New Yorkers are dying from the coronavirus than health experts expected, according to a new study. Local mortality rates have fallen from the highs seen at the onset of the outbreak. This is partly because the sick population has shifted to more resilient people.

After New York became the epicenter of a pandemic in early March, killing tens of thousands of people in COVID-19, experts predicted that the infection would remain deadly for the next few months.

Instead, a new study showed that by mid-August, the mortality rate for people hospitalized for coronavirus-related illnesses had dropped from 27 percent points to about 3 percent points. The study, led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, showed that a group of young and healthy people were infected and arrived in hospital with less severe symptoms than those infected in the spring.

However, researcher analysis has shown that these factors are only part of the improvement in survival.The rest they doubt Healthcare provider‘Coronavirus growth experience. For example, doctors have learned that placing COVID-19 patients in the stomach rather than on the back and delaying ventilator use as much as possible is a more effective method, the study authors say. The medicine also seems to have helped. In addition, other factors such as reduced hospital volume, reduced exposure to infection, and early testing and treatment may have played a role.

“Our findings suggest that while COVID-19 remains a terrible disease, our efforts to improve treatment are probably working,” said the lead author of the study. Dr. Leora Horwitz, an associate professor of the Department of Population and Health at NYU Langone Health, said. “We are protecting more patients through many small changes, even in the absence of silver bullet treatments and vaccines,” said Howitz, director of the Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science Center at NYU Langone. I will.

New York was one of the first states to tackle the serious outbreak of COVID-19. In contrast, Mortality It has been lower in recent waves in the southern and western regions of the country, where there were also young and healthy coronavirus patients, says Howitz. However, it was unclear whether the virus was less lethal due to differences in patient demographics and improved care.

Horwitz says the new study will be published online next week. Hospital medicine journal, The most detailed analysis ever Coronavirus Mortality over time. By considering age, obesity, and other important factors, researchers were able to exclude some explanations from the analysis.

For the study, the research team analyzed 5,263 patient records of people treated for COVID-19 at NYU Langone Hospital in New York City and Long Island from March 1st to August 8th. Use different risk factors and indicators of illness. Regarding the severity of illness on admission, the authors of the study developed a model that predicts the likelihood of death for each patient.

According to the survey results, the chances of death of the most severely ill patients were on average 22 percentage points lower in August than in March.

The average age of hospitalized COVID-19 patients also decreased from 63 to 47 years. In March, 73% had the following chronic illnesses: Lung disease And by mid-June, only about 65 percent of diabetes had such risk factors.

“Other pandemic hotspots need to draw hope from lessons learned here in New York,” said Christopher Petrilli, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone and a senior author of the study. “If we manage our illness well, they can.”

Still, he added, the research team plans to then extend the study to hospitals outside New York.

Petrili also warns that while mortality is improving, COVID-19 will still cause symptoms for some people who continue long after inpatients return home, such as fatigue, blood clots, and lung damage. I am.